The No. 46 player in Cannon's list in the class of 2011 was LSU's Johnny O'Bryant, who had a nice season but ranked just No. 45 in Cannon's final appraisal. In 2012, the No. 46-ranked player in the ESPNU top 100 is Villanova commit Ryan Arcidiacono, the No. 6-ranked point guard in the class. The way Arcidiacono's strengths are discussed by scouts ("ultra skilled and super competitive with an exemplary feel for the game and unwavering confidence," "incredible passer who sees absolutely everything," "master of misdirection") might make you think he's a lock for Big East Freshman of the Year. More likely, he will have a season in the range of his ranking; more likely, he'll be a nice player in relatively marginal minutes as a freshman, with a bright future awaiting him in subsequent seasons.

There is always room for pleasant surprises in recruiting, just as there is always room for major disappointment. But odds are, if your recruiting class doesn't contain one of the best 10 or (maybe) 20 players in the country, your team is focused not on the sexy one-year turnaround but rather on the far less sexy, but no less important, long-term improvement.

Look at JaCorey Williams and Michael Qualls, for example. Both are ranked within the Top 150 (I know the article is about the Top 100) by major recruiting services, yet none of our fans seem to be placing high expectations on them. The general consensus is that they'll be average players in their first few years, at best. Then you have the Top 50, a whole different beast that stirs up a fair amount of excitement. See Bobby Portis/members from last year's class.

Look at JaCorey Williams and Michael Qualls, for example. Both are ranked within the Top 150 (I know the article is about the Top 100) by major recruiting services, yet none of our fans seem to be placing high expectations on them. The general consensus is that they'll be average players in their first few years, at best. Then you have the Top 50, a whole different beast that stirs up a fair amount of excitement. See Bobby Portis/members from last year's class.

Very good points Breems. I also think the internet age has helped to add to the hype when it comes to recruiting. In the "old days", we would read something in the sports page of the newspaper about a recruit and didn't really think about rating. If it was a big man everybody started talking about his size, how would he match up against so and so other centers etc. It was a lot of fun talking about them but also led to much speculation and sometimes great disappointment. We just didn't have much information back then.

The other thing is that Top 150, or even Top 50, seems like a lofty ranking, and it is. But the reality of it is that when you consider the Euros coming in as well, maybe 20 of these guys will have even a cup of coffee in the NBA. Maybe 5 have careers over 5 years?

So while we feel like a recruit at that level should be dominating, Top 50 doesn't mean you're just a small step from pro talent.

Anchoring the frontline of Campus Lights on the opening night of the Pilot Rocky Top League, Hall returned to play in front of Tennessee fans. With an array of dunks and a handful of midrange jumpers, the senior-to-be scored a game-high 32 points in a 124-117 loss to Rice Buick GMC at Bearden.

"Did John decide not to make Kyle Wiltjer a pro?" Then to extend the logic, Bilas envisioned Calipari thinking, "I'll wait. I'll make him a pro later."

Why didn't Calipari develop more than five first-round picks during his nine seasons as Memphis coach? He matched that total in his first season at UK. After three seasons, there have been 11 UK players taken in the first round.

Bilas contends that these players would be drafted no matter what uniform they wore...

The Boston Herald is reporting that Nerlens Noel is enrolled in summer classes in an attempt to boost his GPA to meet the NCAA standard. Noel is taking two classes at Everton High School, the school he attended for two years before transferring to Tilton.

Note: Hill, Walker, and Portis are the top three commits to any school in the nation at time of this post.

Note: Bullitt East PF Derek Willis who gave a verbal to Kentucky, fell out of the Top 100. His high school coach claims Willis was playing out of position in the interior due to an injury to a teammate. Says Willis will play his natural position on the perimeter this season. Willis was Co-Region Player of the Year with Moore's Mekale McKay in '11-12.

“NBA draft people have said I'm like a sick mix of Kevin Garnett and Perry III,” Walker said.

“What I want to do is be my own guy,” said Walker, who turns 18 on Dec. 22. “I wanted to show them A.I.P. — anything is possible. I wanted to stay in Bonifay. I turned down 30 offers and stuck with my home team. Even if you're at a little school, you can do your own thing and go for it.”

Walker's mother, Jeneen Campbell, is a single parent living on disability. Walker acknowledged that life never has been easy, and he said he draws strength from watching his mother battle through her own adversity.

Back in 2009, Wall ended up being suspended for two games — an exhibition game and UK’s season opener against Morehead State — and ordered to fork over $787.58 to charity when the NCAA ruled that non-family members [Cliftons associated with Baylor] had improperly paid for Wall’s unofficial visits to various schools.

The NCAA is also looking into whether Muhammad benefited from similar expenses being paid by Benjamin Lincoln, the brother of an assistant high school coach at Muhammad’s alma mater in Las Vegas.

As well, the NCAA is investigating whether Muhammad may have also received extras from Ken Kavanagh, a financial advisor in New York who helped fund Muhammad’s summer team.

What gives the Muhammad matter a different twist is its timing, coming shortly after Mark Emmert’s crushing crackdown on Penn State football, plus the passage of a new NCAA proposal that would stiffen penalties against rules-violating schools.

Bobby Portis, 6-9, PF, Little Rock Hall (Ark.)When the Arkansas Razorbacks snagged a commitment from Portis last year there wasn’t much known on the national scale about how good Portis actually was. The slender and athletic big man was highly impressive on the recruiting trail for his Arkansas Wings travelling team, and went from being unknown to a legitimate McDonald’s All-American game candidate.

Carrera’s decision to attend South Carolina was delayed a bit by the need to finish up some coursework, and once that was taken care of South Carolina was able to decide on his admission.

With that hurdle now cleared Carrera is officially a Gamecock, and they can definitely use him in a front court that saw both Anthony Gill and Damontre Harris leave the program at the end of the 2011-12 campaign.

Ryan Sweeney, 21, who lives in Providence with his parents and was friends with high school stars Ricky Ledo and Noel among other athletes.

The officials met with Sweeney for nearly an hour, Sweeney's father, Providence attorney Michael Sweeney, would not comment when asked what was discussed.

"Nerlens has been at our house many times. He is Ryan's friend," Michael Sweeney said in the report. "I'm not sure why the NCAA wanted to speak with Ryan but we cooperated, and I got the sense that everything was fine when the meeting was over."

Asked if he's ever provided money to Noel, Sweeney said: "Nerlens came to Florida with us once on vacation and he visited Ryan once at college (Florida Atlantic University) and we paid for his ticket. I will say we are not boosters of Kentucky."

UK spokesman DeWayne Peevy said Wednesday, in the wake of the Sports Illustrated article, that the school's normal procedure is not to comment on any NCAA matters.

Class of '11 Top 50 recruit, Dez Wells was expelled from Xavier after a violation of the student conduct code at the Jesuit school. A HamCo grand jury chose not to indict the rising sophomore for an alleged sexual assault.

Wells chose not to land at Kentucky after a visit over the weekend and the WashPost cites a source that claims Wells will transfer to Maryland. Memphis and Oregon were also in the mix.

Parker, a 6-foot-8, 280-pound center, was one of three highly-touted recruits that signed with UCLA last season, along with shooting guard Shabazz Muhammad and small forward Kyle Anderson – all ranked among the nation’s top 25 overall prospects. Muhammad has been under an NCAA probe for recruiting violations involving his relationship with an AAU booster and is awaiting a ruling on his eligibility. The names of Parker and Anderson were first mentioned on Sunday...

Class of '11 Top 50 recruit, Dez Wells was expelled from Xavier after a violation of the student conduct code at the Jesuit school. A HamCo grand jury chose not to indict the rising sophomore for an alleged sexual assault.

Wells chose not to land at Kentucky after a visit over the weekend and the WashPost cites a source that claims Wells will transfer to Maryland. Memphis and Oregon were also in the mix.

Here's some of those Top 100 recruits from the '08 class that either signed with or landed at SEC schools:

35 SF Darius Miller 6-6/185 (Mason Co HS) Maysville, KY Kentucky

Reports that New Orleans signed second round pick Darius Miller. Miller played for small town, Ohio River school Mason County with a 5,000 seat gym that Bruce Pearl once filled on a recruiting trip. Chris Lofton came from the same school. Miller was a must get for Billy Gillispie in the '08 class after Lofton had been passed over by Tubby Smith.

Jordan Mickey, a 6-foot-8, 223-pound forward from the Dallas area committed to Jones and the Tigers on Thursday night after a home visit earlier this week from the LSU coach.

"It's a great day," Mickey said Thursday night. "It's a weight off my chest."

It's also a major pickup for the Tigers.

By adding Mickey, Jones bolsters a 2013 recruiting class that already features two other front-court players: Sudanese forward Deng Deng and Nigerian-born center John Odoh, who is expected to enroll at LSU in January but not play until next season.

What sets Mickey apart from those two is that he is the first high school player Jones and his staff landed for the next recruiting haul.

All three major recruiting services rate Mickey as a top-40 recruit nationally.

"Johnny Jones scored big with Mickey," FOXSportsNEXT.com national basketball recruiting analyst Evan Daniel said. "He's a top-40 recruit and guy that can help LSU out of the gate. These are the type of recruits Jones needs to steal out of the South."

The UCLA basketball team held its first fall practice Friday in preparation for what was expected to be a season of redemption. The successful recruitment of four of the nation's top freshmen fueled high hopes the Bruins would enjoy a triumphant return to iconic Pauley Pavilion, resplendent after a $136-million makeover.

But with all the anticipation there is worry and frustration.

Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson, the most polished among the gems in that recruiting class, still have not been cleared for competition. The NCAA is examining the eligibility of both players.

Muhammad, who is ranked at or near the top among all freshmen, has faced the most speculation. There are questions about money his family received from Benjamin Lincoln, the brother of an assistant at his high school, that helped pay for unofficial recruiting visits.

Investigators may also be looking at Ken Kavanagh, a New York financial planner who partially funded the summer team Muhammad played for in his hometown of Las Vegas.

If former NBA player and personal hoops trainer/aficionado John Lucas (who trained the twins from eighth grade on) is to be believed, the hype on the Harrison twins hasn't been loud enough.

Lucas said that when the twins were in the eighth and ninth grade, they were the only players that young allowed to participate in games with the pros he also helps train, particularly at his annual NBA predraft camp.

Lucas mentioned J.R. Smith, Blake Griffin, Andray Blatche, Tyshawn Taylor, Chandler Parsons, Hassan Whiteside, John Henson and his son John Lucas III as some NBA players or former prospects with whom the Harrisons have shared a court.

“They held their own,” Lucas said.

“They come in, for me, right behind Kobe (Bryant) and LeBron (James) as talents,” Lucas said in a phone interview last week. “… They’ve got a chance to be really good.”

Needless to say, that is incredibly high praise. Probably too high. I mean, sure, the Harrison twins are very good at basketball. But Kobe Bryant and LeBron James? Two of the 10 best NBA players of all time? Global faces of the game? Dominant talents that come along once every 10 years, if that? My instinct tells me that Lucas is exaggerating, because that's what we all tend to do when we see really talented players coming out of the high school ranks. Everybody's always the next big thing. Rarely do the results match the hype.

6-9 Piney Woods center Dwight Coleby becomes the first 2013 player to give a verbal to Ole Miss. Coleby, just outside the Top 100 is reported to hold scholarship offers from Georgia, Memphis, and Mississippi State.